March 15, 2013

A simple idea to make driving safer

I just had a thought that I’d like to share. I sort of wonder if this is already the case.

If you get into a car accident and suffer damage to your vehicle, while committing a crime that carries: (1) jail time; (2) a suspended sentence; (3) a license suspension/revokation; or (4) while fleeing officers, then your insurance company does not have to pay for the damage to your vehicle. It doesn’t apply to stolen cars, and it doesn’t apply to liability to other parties( though, I’m open to the idea that the insurance company can sue you, the driver, for all those costs paid if you were committing a crime or fleeing police. )

Now, I don’t expect much to happen from this. It’s a small idea. In reality, what it may do is temporarily stop bad guys from driving, and remove enough money to keep them out of cars a little longer. They’ll drive again — anyone who could possibly be in this scenario has enough money to afford a comp/collision policy and not liability only — thus likely drives a newer car. It doesn’t hurt the poor — they carry liability only policies as it is, and this is no change for them. So, really, this is an extra “fine” some people pay as a result of their own criminal or reckless activity. This extra fine may buy the rest of us a couple extra weeks without these guys on the road. Plus, people will mis-spread the truth about it, and the rumors around it will probably incentive slightly better behavior with cars…

The real idea — humans aren’t allowed to drive at all — that’ll take a long time before we have the technology needed to make that happen. Once we do, I don’t know that we’ll need a law to force it. Just mandate self-driving systems be available in all cars once the technology exists. People will, out of convenience, use them. Ay car with a self driving system engaged is exempt from the cell-phone, drunk driving, and other distracted/impaired driving laws while the system is engaged. This means young people out for a night of drinking with buddies will use the system, and over time, may even like it. Eventually, drivers will stop driving altogether. Kind of like stick shifts…